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Phonological history of Scots
This is a presentation of the phonological history of the Scots language. Scots has its origins in Old English (OE) via early Northern Middle English;A History of Scots to 1700, DOST Vol. 12 pp. lix-lx though loanwords from Old NorseA History of Scots to 1700, pp. lxii and Romance sources are common, especially from ecclesiastical and legal Latin, Anglo-Norman and Middle French borrowings.A History of Scots to 1700, pp. lxiii-lxv Trade and immigration led to some borrowings from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch.A History of Scots to 1700, pp. lxiii Some vocabulary has been borrowed from Scotland's other language, Gaelic.A History of Scots to 1700, pp. lxi Consonants Instance of between and were lost or did not develop:Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction Vol I p. xxiiA History of Scots to 1700, p. ci :OE æmerge → Modern Scots emmers and English embers :OE þýmel → Modern Scots thimmle and English thimble :OE timber → Modern Scots timmer and English timber Certain clusters were reduced: :A word-final reduced to Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxii except in some inflected forms (e.g. Modern Scots act, expect, strict). : reduced to in final position (e.g. Modern Scots attempt, corrupt).Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxii Note that the English words like empty that come from OE words that did not have a cluster also don’t have clusters in Scots (in this case, OE æmetig became Scots empy). : often reduced to (e.g. OE fréond, 'friend', became Modern Scots freend).Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiiA History of Scots to 1700, p. ci :Final often reduced to (e.g. Modern Scots auld 'old').Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxii :OE and clusters appeared word-initially, though this feature is now highly recessive (e.g. knaw, 'know'; gnegum, 'tricky nature').Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiiA History of Scots to 1700, p. ci While OE became in Modern English, Scots has retained the original pronunciation (e.g. OE scylfe, 'shelf', became skelf).Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxii Old English became when adjacent to a front vowel (e.g. shinners from OE sinder, 'cinder'). OE was often dropped in certain contexts:Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiii :OE delfan → Modern Scots del and English delve :OE déoful → Modern Scots dou and English dove :OE gefan → Modern Scots gie and English give) In contexts where OE and palatalized to and , respectively, in Modern English (that is, after a front vowel), Scots has retained the original velar pronunciation:Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxii :OE birce → Scots birk and English birch :OE bréc → Scots breeks and English britches :OE þæc → Scots thack and English thatch :OE giccan → Scots yeuk and English itch :OE hrycg → Scots rig and English ridge Word final OE (written or ) was deleted in a few words (e.g. OE múð, 'mouth', became mou in Scots).Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiiiA History of Scots to 1700, p. ci OE was lost in English, but remained so in Scots:Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiii :OE beorht → Modern Scots bricht and English bright :OE hlóh → Modern Scots lauch and English laugh :OE þóht → Modern Scots thocht and English thought However, some words such as tho (though) and throu ('through') have dropped the . Old English became for a number of speakers, though is widespread (e.g. OE hwæt, 'what', became whit).Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiii Metathesis occurred in some words (e.g. OE græs, 'grass', became girse).A History of Scots to 1700, p. ci OE became vocalised after resulting in the diphthong in Modern Scots (e.g. boga, 'bow', became bowe).Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiiA History of Scots to 1700, p. xc Similarly, in the Early Scots period, was vocalized after: : (e.g. pullian, 'pull', became Modern Scots pou).A History of Scots to 1700, p. xc : (e.g. bolster, 'bolster', became Modern Scots bowster),A History of Scots to 1700, p. xc becoming and then changing to in Modern Scots.Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiv : (e.g. healdan, 'hold', became Modern Scots haud);A History of Scots to 1700, p. xc becoming and then changing to or , depending on dialect. Vowels The following table shows the modern realisation of the various Scots vowels along with their pronunciation in Early Scots, the Early Middle English vowels they can largely be derived from, and the main Old English sources of these vowels. See also Middle English phonology for a more in-depth overview of the Old English sources of the Early Middle English vowels below. External sources are: For the principal Old English, Norse and Romance sources of the Early Scots vowels see Aitken, A.J, (Ed. Macafee C.) (2002) pp. 89–95; for an overview of the historical developments see Vowel systems of Scots: a rough historical outline in A History of Scots to 1700, p. lvii. Vowel 1 Old English and Old Norse í'' and ''ý, Old English i''+''ld and y''+''nd, as well as Old French í'' became in Early Scots then in Middle Scots and subsequently conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule to when short and or when long in Modern Scots, for example: ''wyce (wise), wyte (blame), bide (remain), kye (cows), hive and fire from wís, wíte, bídan, cý, hýf and fýr. Similarly with Norse grice (pig), sile (strain), tyke (curr), lythe (shelter) and tyne (lose), and Romance advice, fine, cry, sybae (onion) but where Romance words entered Scots after this sound shift the original (Vowel 2) remained in Scots, for example bapteese (baptise), ceety (city), ceevil (civil), eetem (item), leeberal (liberal), leecence (license), meenister (minister), obleege (oblige), peety (pity), poleetical (political), poseetion, releegion (religion) and speerit (spirit). Similarly with Old French ai and ei, for example Modern Scots chyce (choice), eynment (ointment), eyster (oyster), evyte (avoid), jyne (join), ile (oil), pynt (point), syle (soil), spyle (spoil) and vyce (voice) Vowel 2 Old English é'' became in Early Scots then in Middle Scots and in Modern Scots, for example: ''bee, breest breast, cheese, creep, deed, freend (friend), hear, heich (high), knee, seek (sick), sheep, sleep, teeth and wheen a few from béo, bréost, cése, créap, déd, fréond, héran, héah, cnéo, séoc, scép, slép, téþ and hwéne. Also grieve (overseer) from grœfa. Vowel 3 Old English ea and éa became in Early Scots, merging with vowel 2 ( ) or vowel 4 ( ) in Middle Scots depending on dialect or lexeme, except for a few Northern Scots dialects where it became ,A History of Scots to 1700, pp. xcviii for example Modern Scots: beard, breid (bread), deid (dead), deif (deaf), heid (head), meat (food), steid (stead) and tread from beard, bréad, déad, déaf, héafod, mete, stede and tredan. Similarly with Romance words like beast, cheat, conceit, creitur (creature), deceit, ease, please, ream (cream), reison and seison. Vowel 4 Old English á'' became in Early Scots then in Middle Scots and in Modern Scots, for example: ''aik (oak), ait (oat), braid (broad), gae (go), hale (whole), hame (home), lade (load), mair (more), raip (rope), saip (soap), sair (sore) and nae (no) from ác, áte, brád, gá, hál, hám, lád, mára, ráp, sáp and ná. Before , now in Modern central, southern and Ulster varieties and in northern varieties, for example: ane (one), ance (once), bane (bone), gane (gone), nane (none) and stane (stone) from án, ánes, bán, gán, nán and stán. Similarly with Norse, for example frae (from), kail (cole) and spae (foretell) from frá, kál and spá. The vowel occurs in other words of Norse origin, for example graith (harness), hain (spare) and lair (mud) from greiða, hagna and leir. Before + consonant, depending on dialect, now or in Modern Scots, for example: airm (arm), airae (arrow), bairn (child), dairn (darn), hairm (harm), hairst (harvest), wairm (warm) and shairp (sharp) from earm, arwe, derne, hearm, hærfest, wearm and scearp. Similarly with aiple (apple), aix (axe), efter (after), peth (path), and wraith (wrath) from æpel, æx, æfter, pæþ and wræþþu. Similarly with Romance caird (card), cairy (carry), gairden (garden), regaird (regard), mairy (marry), mairtyr (martyr) and pairt (part). Vowel 5 In open position o'' became in Early Scots then eventually in Modern Scots, for example: ''coal, foal, hole and thole endure. Vowel 6 Old English ú'' became in Early Scots then in Middle Scots, remaining so but Stem final it became in Southern Scots, for example Modern Scots: ''brou (brow), broun (brown), cou (cow), dou (dove), doun (down), hoose (house), hou (how), mou (mouth), moose (mouse), nou (now), soor (sour) and thoum (thumb) from brú, brún, cú, dúfe, dún, hús, hú, múð, mús, nú, súr and ðúma. Similarly with Norse boun (ready), couer (cower), droop and stroup (spout), and Romance allou (allow), bouat (lantern), coont (count), dout (doubt), pouder (powder) and roond (round). Vowel 6a Older Scots became vocalised to by the Middle Scots period,A History of Scots to 1700, p. xc for example Modern Scots: fou (full), pou (pull) and oo (wool) from full, pullian and wull. Similarly Romance coum (culm) and poupit (pulpit). Vowel 7 Old English ō'', ''eō became in Early Scots becoming in Modern peripheral dialects. In Fife and parts of Perthshire Middle Scots merged with vowel 4 ( ). In Modern central varieties it has merged with vowel 15 ( ) in short environments conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule, for example: bluid (blood), duin (done), muin (moon) and spuin (spoon) from dōn, blōd, mōna, and spōn. Similarly with Romance words like bruit (brute), fruit, schuil (school), tuin (tune), uiss (use n.). In central varieties Middle Scots merged with vowel 4 ( ) in long environments conditioned by the Scottish Vowel Length Rule, for example Modern Scots: buird (board), fuird (ford), fluir (floor) and muir (moor) from bōrd, fōrd, flōr and mór along with dae (do), shae (shoe) and tae (to) from dō, scō and tō. Similarly with Norse words like Fuirsday (Thursday), luif (palm) and ruise (praise), and Romance words like puir (poor), shuir (sure), uise (use v.). In northern varieties Middle Scots merged with vowel 2 ( ), in Mid Northern varieties after and it became , for example Modern Scots: guid (good), cuil (cool), from gōd, cōl and Dutch cuit (ankle), and Romance schuil (school). Note: But not Modern Scots fit (foot), wid (wood), wad (would), oo (wool), coud (could) and shoud/''su''(l'')''d (should). A following or resulted in Modern Scots , , and/or depending on dialect, for example: beuch (bough), beuk (book), ceuk (cook), eneuch (enough), heuch (cliff), heuk (hook), leuch (laughed), leuk (look), pleuch (plough), sheuch (ditch), teuch (tough) and teuk (took) from bōh, bōk, cōk, genóh, hōh, hōk, hlōh, tōk, plōh, sōh, tōh and tōk. Vowel 8 Old English a'' or ''æ in open position became in Early Scots then in Middle Scots and subsequently , or in Modern Scots, though may also occur, especially in Ulster, for example: faither (father), gaither (gather), haimer (hammer), day, brain, fair, nail and tail from fæðer, gaderian, hamer, dæg, brægen, fæger, nægel and tægel. Similarly with Norse cake, gate (street), sale and scaith (damage). Vowel 8a Older Scots stem final became in Middle Scots merging with vowel 1 ( ) in Modern Scots. Vowel 9 Older Scots became in Modern Scots. Vowel 10 Early Scots merged with vowel 1 ( ) in Modern Scots. Vowel 11 Early Scots in stem final positions, became then in Middle Scots merging with vowel 2 ( ) in Modern Scots. Vowel 12 Old English ag-, aw- and áw became in Early Scots then in Middle Scots and subsequently, depending on dialect, or in Modern Scots, for example: draw, gnaw, and law from dragan, gnagan, haga and lagu, and Norse maw (seagull) and claw from maga and clawa. blaw (blow), craw (crow), maw (mowe), sawe (sow), saul (soul) and snaw (snow) from bláwan, cráwe, máwan, sáwan, sáwol and snáwan. Similarly with Old English ág and Norse lágr which became awn (to own) and law (low). Before and + consonant, Middle Scots also became or in Modern Scots, for example: caunle (candle), draucht (draught), haund (hand), lauch (laugh), saund '' (sand) and ''slauchter (slaughter) from candel, draht, hand, hæhhan, sand and slæ. Similarly with Norse baund (band), Dutch fraucht (freight), and Romance chancy, glanders, graund, and stank (a drain). Vowel 12a Older Scots became vocalised to by the Middle Scots periodA History of Scots to 1700, p. xc and subsequently, depending on dialect, or in Modern Scots, for example: aw (all), caw (call), fauch (fallow), faw (fall), gaw (gall), haud (hold), haw (hall), maut (malt), sauch (sallow), saut (salt), smaw (small), staw (stall) and waw (wall) from eal, ceallian, fealh, fallan, gealla, healdan, hall, mealt, salh, sealt, smæl, steall and wall. Similarly with Norse hause (neck) and Romance aum (alum), baw (ball) and scaud (scald). Vowel 13 Old English ów became in Older Scots then in Modern Scots, for example: flowe (flow), glowe (glow), growe (grow) and stowe (stow) from flówan, glówan, grówan and stówigan. Vowel 13a Early Scots became vocalised to by the Middle Scots periodA History of Scots to 1700, p. xc and subsequently diphthongised to in Modern Scots.Scottish National Dictionary, Introduction p. xxiv In some dialects this is vocalising to especially before , for example Modern Scots: bowster (bolster), bowt (bolt), cowt (colt), gowd (gold), howe (hollow), knowe (knoll), powe (poll) and towe (toll) from bolster, bolt, colt, gold, holh, cnol, polle and toll. Similarly with Romance rowe (roll) and sowder (solder), also Dutch gowf (golf). Vowel 14 Older Scots (a) and Older Scots (b(i)) became in Middle Scots then or in Modern Scots. Vowel 14b(ii) Older Scots became in Middle Scots then in Modern Scots. Vowel 15 Old English i'' and ''y became in Early Scots, remaining so, but approach in some Modern dialects especially after and , for example Modern Scots: hill, filthy, will, win, wind, whip, whisper and whisky. Vowel 16 Before alveolars Old English æ'' became in Early Scots, remaining so, for example Modern Scots: ''bress (brass), clesp (clasp), ess (ash), fest (fast), gled (glad), gless (glass), gress (grass) and hesp (hasp) from bræs, claspe, æsce, fæst, glæd, glæs, gæs and hæpse. Vowel 17 Old English a'' or ''æ in close position became in Older Scots, remaining so, although or occasionally occur, for example Modern Scots: back, bath, blad (leaf/blade), cat, clap, hack, mak (make), ram, rax (stretch), tak (take), wall (well for water), wash, watter (water) and waps (wasp) from bæc, bæþ, blæd, catt, clappian, haccian, macian, ram, raxan, tacan, wælla, wæscan, wæter, and wæps. Similarly with Norse bag, flag (flagstone) and snag and Dutch pad (path). Also before and , for example Modern Scots: can, lang (long), man, pan, sang (song), sank, strang (strong), than (then) and wran (wren) from cann, lang, mæn, panne, sang, sanc strang, þanne and wrænna. Similarly with Norse bann (curse), stang (sting), thrang (busy) and wrang (wrong). Similarly with Old English o'' before , , and , for example Modern Scots: ''craft (croft), crap (crop), drap (drop), laft (loft), pat (pot), saft (soft) and tap (top) from croft, cropp, dropa, loft, pott, softe and top. Similarly with a w'' before ''e, for example Modern Scots: wab (web), wast (west), wadge (wedge), twal (twelve) and dwall (dwell) from web, west, wecg, twelf and dwellan. Vowel 18 Old English o'' in close position became in Older Scots then in Modern Scots but in some dialects became , for example: ''box, lock and rock. Vowel 19 Old English u'' became in Early Scots then in Modern Scots, for example ''but and cut, but in some words it merged with vowel 15 ( ), for example Modern Scots: din (dun), hinnie (honey), simmer (summer), son and nit (nut) from dunn, hunig, sumor, sunne and hnut. Similarly in some Romance words, for example Modern Scots: kimmer (commère), kiver (cover), ingan (onion), stibble (stubble) and tribble (trouble). Word endings Various Old English word endings became any of , , , , , or depending on dialect, for example Modern Scots: borrae (borrow), follae (follow), marrae (marrow), meidae (meadow), pillae (pillow), sheddae (shadow), swallae (swallow), weedae (widow) and yallae (yellow) from borgian, folgian, mearh, maedwe, pyle, sceadu, swelgan/swealwe, widwe and geolo. Similarly with Norse windae (window). See also *History of the Scots language References *Aitken, A.J, (Ed. Macafee C.) (2002) The Older Scots Vowels: A History of the Stressed Vowels of Older Scots from the Beginnings to the Eighteenth Century, The Scottish Text Society, Edinburgh. *William Grant and David D. Murison (eds) The Scottish National Dictionary (SND) (1929–1976), The Scottish national Dictionary Association, vols. I–X, Edinburgh. * A History of Scots to 1700 in the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (DOST) Vol. 12. Oxford University Press 2002. Phonology Scots